Excluded
by FactofFiction
Summary: What's that expression? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Well, you can scrap that. Hell got a new fury. And it came breezing through the doors of Walter Reed's trauma center at exactly 6:28 in the morning. Tag 9x01. Ziva's reaction to hearing about the fallout of Tony's special assignment.


What's that expression? _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?_

Well, you can scrap that. Hell got a new fury. And it came breezing through the doors of Walter Reed's trauma center at exactly 6:28 in the morning.

Mismatched travel outfit and clearly loved piece of luggage at her heels, Ziva David approached the desk with equal airs of "Too tired for this shit" and "Don't you dare fuck with me." The nurse seated there, minutes from the arrival of her replacement and the great promise of a few hours sleep, let out a deep sigh as she approached.

"I'm looking for DiNozzo. Tony."

The nurse nodded, referring to the list of patients hanging on a clipboard just to her left. She sighed again.

"There's no patient here with that name. Sorry, Sweetie."

Ziva's head tilted, her nose scrunching just a bit with the sheer effort it took for her not to reach other the counter and assault the poor hospital staff.

"He is here. I know he is here. Check again. D-I-N-O-Z-Z-O. Anthony. Junior."

The woman peered up at her over her glasses, taking in the messy bun and slight flush of her honey skin in the fluorescent light. Whatever she was looking for, she must have found, because she looked back down at the clipboard. Slowly scanning over each line. Even flipping back a few pages to be thorough.

"I'm sorry, hun. But your boyfriend isn't here. Maybe he got released?"

"One: he is _not _my boyfriend," the Israeli paused, almost as if there was more to the statement that she wasn't sure she could include. Eventually, she continued, "And two: unless you are in the habit of releasing _gunshot victims_ mere hours after their arrival, I am quite certain that-"

"Ziva?"

Her head snapped in the direction of her name, only slightly disappointed to find their team leader walking slowly in her direction.

"Gibbs," she rolled her shoulders back, lengthening through her spine to appear much larger than she suddenly felt.

He took in her appearance. Every disgruntled, displaced piece of her attire. The wire curls bursting out of the confines of her bun.

Something about it must have amused him, because he smirked through his following question.

"Whatcha doin' here?"

And that, _that_, reignited the fire she had spent the last hour stewing in.

"What am I doing here? Oh, I don't know Gibbs. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that, upon landing at Dulles this morning, I called the Director to put in for a half-day of leave and was informed that my partner had been _shot _last night and nobody had _bothered _to inform me."

The smirk grew. As did the fire in her eyes. He even had the gull to take a sip from the dark brown coffee cup in his hand before speaking.

"You were on vacation."

Her jaw literally dropped at the statement.

"I was… on vacation? And that means I am to be… excluded? That I am not to be told when my partner is hurt?"

Gibbs shrugged, "Figured you were out of touch. Being on a plane and all."

"And leaving a message for when I land would have been, what? Too much of a burden?"

He shrugged again. She continued to fume.

"Where is he?" The tilt of her jaw and slight raise of her shoulders was meant to convey her seriousness in the matter. It didn't seem to translate.

"Oh, he's here."

Her eyebrows flew up to her hairline as she waited for him to continue.

"In his room. Probably sleeping by now."

"So he is stable?"

"Oh, yeah. He's stable."

"Can I see him?"

Another shrug.

"I would like to see him, Gibbs."

And then he was looking at her again. Growing even more amused at _whatever _it was he saw.

"Okay," He tilted his head, signaling she should follow him, "You can see him."

She watched him turn on his heel, taking another long sip of his coffee before starting toward the elevator bank some 20 yards away. Once he was out of earshot, she let out a defiant grunt and reached back for her luggage handle. She pulled it behind her as she made her own way to the elevator, the soft material of her comfy boots sliding easily across the linoleum floor beneath her.

* * *

Gibbs came to a stop just outside of a solid white door. His gesture was half-hearted.

"In there."

"He is alone?" She asked, frantically searching for some indication as to what wing of the hospital they had entered.

"As far as I know."

"And you are not going in?"

"Ah," He chuckled to himself while lowering into a chair along the far wall, "He's seen enough of me. You'll be a welcome change."

She eyed him suspiciously before turning back toward the door. She reached for the knob, taking a slow deep breath to prepare herself for whatever it was she would see inside, and then yanked it open.

His head turned her direction the moment she stepped inside, and she was momentarily shocked at the relief his consciousness seemed to bring her.

Once he processed who had arrived, he gave her a goofy grin.

"Ziva!" He called while scrambling to sit up farther in bed, "I thought you were in…"

His eyebrows scrunched as he tried to recall the place he knew she had gone. The expression was so endearing, she almost let him continue to struggle just to get a longer look at it.

"Columbia. And I was. I just landed this morning."

"Oh," The smile returned and something about it made her shift on her feet, "Cool."

They feel into a tense silence as Ziva sized up their current situation. There did not seem to be any monitors in place. No IV pole. Ultimately nothing to suggest he sustained any form of injury the previous day. Which only added to her confusion.

"You come here just to say 'hi'?" He was sitting all the way up now, pulling the blankets farther up his body to cover the majority of his hospital gown.

"Uh, no. I…" She scanned the room once more, just to confirm its empty state, "I was told you were hurt."

"Oh yeah," He ran his flat palm over his head a couple of times, causing his hair to spike in all different directions, somehow making him look incredibly young in the moment, "My head got real banged up. Concussion. I'm still under observation."

She stepped a little closer, leaving her carry-on by the door as she moved to stand just feet from the bed, "A concussion? So you were not…"

He tilted his head in confusion for a few seconds before he realized what she was asking.

"They told you I got shot?"

Her throat constricted as she heard his say it aloud, so she had to settle for just nodding in response.

"Well, I did. Technically," He lifted his arm in the direction of the corner where his Kevlar vest was still propped up with a small golden bullet lodged in its plate. The sight made her both melt with relief and seize with fear. If he hadn't been wearing that vest… she stopped herself before considering the outcome.

"God bless body armor, huh?" He cocked his brow to match the crooked smile on his face. His concern over her concern was obvious.

"Yes," She almost whispered, realizing how ridiculous her actions of the last hour were in light of this new information. She needn't commandeer an airport taxi. Needn't demand the driver take curvy highway ramps at nearly twice the recommended speed. Certainly needn't rush to his side without a shower and change of clothes to make herself look at least half-way presentable. She found herself crossing her arms over her chest in near embarrassment, "God bless."

She felt his eyes roaming over her, completing his own evaluation of her current state. Her eyes, meanwhile, too unique interest in a flickering lamp over in the far corner. She searched for the right line to excuse herself. Wondered how long it would take to fetch another taxi. Absolutely blanched at the idea of facing their boss waiting in the hallway, probably making all sorts of outrageous judgments from her brash and disheveled arrival. She could practically hear the lecture on partners and rules already. How could she have been so-

"Breakfast was just served," The slightly goofy grin was back on his face as he pointed to a tray on the nearby table, "And look: _two _pudding cups. I think the nurse has the hots for me."

Dammit. He just has to go all _DiNozzo _on her and suddenly she can't remember why she was in such a hurry to leave.

"The one with the glasses. She must need a new prescription."

He laughed, bringing a hand up to his chest to signal his wounded heart. She chose to ignore how close it was to where a bullet has almost wounded him for real, "Ouch, David. You know, I am in a hospital bed. You should really be nicer to me."

"Why? Because you are sick in the head? How is that different from every other day?"

Another barking laugh seemed to draw her right to the foot of his bed, her hands coming up to rest on the rounded plastic of the frame.

"Wow, you're extra snarky today."

"Well, I am tired, Tony."

He nodded a little, his eyes suddenly wild as if the thought of her deciding to leave was as worrisome to him as it was to her.

"I guess that makes sense," then he gestured back to the tray in the corner, "You can have my other pudding cup if you want. You know, some brain fuel."

"Thank you. But I do not want to take your food."

"No, really. Eat it," He leaned over to fetch a spoon from his side table and held it out to her, "I should really stick to one. You know, for the sake of my pant size."

She considered the spoon for a few seconds before slowly stepping around the bed to take it. She then grabbed the pudding cup in question while pulling the lone chair in the room away from the wall and up beside his bed.

As she settled into the seat, ripping the cover off of the treat and indulging in a heaping bite, she felt him following her every move. Watching her carefully like she was going to disappear. She let him stare for a while before 'catching' him with an innocent glance.

"What?"

"Nothing!" He was a little too quick on the denial, "I'm just… really glad you came to visit me, Ziva."

She smiled, all the while sending up a silent prayer that the slight remnants of a sunburn acquired early in her vacation would be enough to disguise the blush creeping up her neck.

"What are partners for?"

His own smile faltered, but quickly recovered as he reached for the remote by his leg, "You'll never guess what I saw while I was messing around with this thing earlier."

'This thing', as she quickly worked out, referred to the television tucked away against the far wall.

"And what would that be?"

"Casablanca! On streaming!"

"Hm," She shrugged while swallowing another spoonful of her pudding, "I do not believe I've ever seen it."

"You're kidding!"

"Afraid not."

"Oh, you're gonna love it," He excitedly clicked through pages of nondescript movies before finding the one he wanted, "_Here's looking at you, Kid." _

She cast him a strange look, acknowledging his impression but clearly missing the significance. He brushed her off with a gentle wave of his hand before picking up his own half-empty cup from the side table and enjoying a spoonful.

They enjoyed the movie in comfortable silence, both finding the simple time spent together to be healing for all kinds of wounds, thankfully none of which had been caused by the shiny 22 round lodged in the vest still sitting in the corner.

* * *

**Tumblr is a dangerous place for people like me. **

**This is another product of a conversation over there. We were discussing the fact that we never really got a chance to see Ziva react to Tony being in real danger or even hurt in the later seasons. And this episode, where Tony appeared to be shot while on a special mission for secnav, seemed like a wasted opportunity. So, naturally, I had to fix it. Give us a little something to fill in the blanks with what Ziva might have done upon hearing Tony had been shot. The episode implied she was in Columbia with Monique during all of this, so I decided to bring her home just in time to bring a little comfort to her 'partner' as he recovered from his mission. And Tony, in his brain-scrambled state, would probably have loooooved a visit from his partner. Maybe a little too much. **

**It's very dialogue-driven, mostly because I feel even Ziva herself would be repressing real thoughts about the topic, given that she had a boyfriend at the time and therefore would not want to get too in her feelings over her partner. But she would still be worried. And absolutely furious at the lack of communication that seemed to accompany this whole assignment. **

**Hope you enjoy! It's just a quick little piece but I hope it makes y'all smile in these stressful Tiva times. **

**Oh, and who watched Out of the Darkness? Pretty crazy, right? I feel like I'm still trying to process most of what happened, and we're getting Into the Light so quickly. CBS is truly here to wreck us emotionally, huh? **

**Anyway, Reviews are my fav. And _you _are my fav if you leave one. Or two. Or ten. Lemme know what you think. I love feedback. Almost as much as I love these idiots. **


End file.
